This post was a stub that evolved into “reality is unrealistic” substack essay a few months later.
“But please remember: this is only a work of fiction. The truth, as always, will be far stranger.”― Arthur C. Clarke
(original thread) Reality is repeatedly wilder than people’s expectations. The stories we tell ourselves mostly have to make sense; reality doesn’t. Reality can seem unrealistic, but this is mostly a failure of our expectations. Our perceptions are substantially influenced by our expectations.
My goto example for this is: consider how “unrealistic” it would’ve seemed to make a reality tv show host become president of the USA. like try pitching that as part of a serious prestige tv show in 2014. Nobody would’ve taken you seriously. Or like, “Nintendo CEO Doug Bowser”. Or consider the map of New Orleans.
Now. because people expect reality to be Realistic, there’s a systemic filtering that takes place. And it ties back to the good/great dichotomy I’ve talked about recently. Good is Realistic. Great is unRealistic. So people will ignore, overlook and forgo great outcomes.
If you successfully solve your problem in a Good way, people who have that problem will be curious to learn from you.
If you successfully solve your problem in a Great way, people who have that problem will accuse you of never having had that problem in the first place.
Great solutions– which are often generative and valuable far beyond the problem they initially are meant to solve– are authored by people who aren’t constrained by Realistic Expectations.
To not be constrained by Realistic Expectations… socially speaking, that’s indistinguishable from being delusional.
Of course, this does not mean that being delusional guarantees greatness, positive deviance, etc.
tbc
✱